Page:Voyage of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and round the world in the years 1791-95, volume 3.djvu/232

Rh >794- July. Tuelday i.

ing to windward from this Ration we loft ground ._iitil tuefday morning, when alight breeze, attended by fercnc pleafant weather, fprang up from the weftward, with which our ccurfe was direfled for the low land to the eaftward of point Riou. At noon, the obferved latitude was 39" 39', lon- gitude 219° 15', and the variation of the oompafs was in the morning 30° 20' eafterly. The moft weftern land in fight at this time bore by com- pafs weft; point Riou, N. 54 w. ; the neareft ftiore, N. 21 w., diftant f?ven miles. This is a low projecting point of land, fituated according to our obfervations in latitude 59° 47'. and longitude 219° 17'; a point which I named Point Manby, and which I took to be the weft point of what in Mr. Dixon's chart is called Admiralty bay, bore n. 39 e., diftant 7 leagues ; beyond which, high diftant fnowy mountains were feen ftretching to N. 80 E. As we advanced along the coaft from point Riou the coun- try became lefs woody, and beyond the low proje6ling point it feemed only to produce a brownifti vegetation, which further to the eaftward in- tirely difappeared, and prefented a naked barren coufitry, compofed apparently of loofe unconne6led ftones of different magnitudes.

The weather was fine, and the wind being favorable we made a pleafant progrefs along the coaft, which continued to be a low compaft border of plain land; this, towards point Manby, gradually put on a more verdant and fertile appearance, and to the eaftward of that point the coun- try was again well wooded. In the evening we paflcd point Manby, and faw to the e. N. e. the iftands that form port Mulgrave, for which we fteered in queft of the Chatham, but made little progrefs, as the favorable breeze again delerted us, and was fucceeded by a calm. At ten at night we heard the report of a gun in the direftion of port Mulgrave, which was immediately anfwered, concluding it to be fired from our confort; this conjefture proved to be corrcft, as by four the next morning we were Wcdnef. 2. vifited by Mr. Manby, the mafter of the Chathain, in one of the Kodiak Indian canoes, attended by two others. The Indians had reported that a ftiip was near the coaft, and our having anfwered their gun the preceding evening, left little doubt on board the Chatham of our being arrived; and under a fuppofition that it might be my intention to enter port Mulgrave, Mr. Manby had come off for the purpolc of conducing us